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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. branch — of a bank
  2. field — farmland
  3. fall — to drop
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. branch — a division
  6. land — ground
  7. spell — a short time
  8. bass — low music
  9. spell — letters
  10. wound — an injury
  11. wound — an injury
  12. field — a subject
  13. bass — the fish
  14. field — for sport
  15. fall — to drop
  16. court — of a king
  17. court — for sport
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. fall — the season
  20. land — a country
  21. spell — magic
  22. land — to come down
  23. court — of law
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com